Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and the non-profit group Medicines for Malaria Venture will be collaborating to identify novel drugs for the treatment of malaria.

Research, the pharmaceutical company said, will focus on a certain type of antibiotics that could be used as anti-malarial treatment and the MMV will provide funding for the research carried out by GSK.

According to GSK, macrolide drugs, on which the research will be carried out, are a well-established class for antimicrobial agents that have a significant role in the treatment of infectious diseases.

The research collaboration will investigate the potential of such drugs to treat drug-resistant malaria.

Malaria is among the world's worst communicable disease that causes more than a million deaths each year and imposes major economic burdens on countries where the disease is endemic. Some 500 million cases of malaria occur annually and it is a major killer disease in Africa and a primary cause of death and poverty.

GSK has also renewed its joint research programme with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development with the aim of improving the treatment of tuberculosis. The research collaboration, which started in 2004, includes a portfolio of projects that could lead to new medicines that attack Mycobacterium tuberculosis, including strains that are resistant to drugs.

The agreement has been extended for a further three years.